Leveraging Bulls and Bears in Russia

Russia is a country of rich natural resources and a well educated population, but many investors are afraid of it. In the long term, those investors are often right. Russia has gone from strength (a successful hosting of the 2014 Winter Olympics) to show of strength (the invasion of Crimea) to self-injury (a ban on food imports which may drive up Russian consumer prices 2% this year). But investing in a way that is counter-cyclical to other investors’ fears can bring great profits, particularly when investing through a triple-leveraged fund such as the Direxion Daily Russia Bull 3x Shares (RUSL) or the Direxion Daily Russia Bear 3x Shares (RUSS).

RUSL, the bull exchange-traded fund (ETF), seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of 300% of the performance of an index of publicly traded companies that are listed on an exchange in Russia or which generate at least 50% of their revenues in Russia.

RUSS, the bear ETF, attempts to generate results which are 300% of the inverse performance of the same index. It does this primarily through financial positions which allow it to short assets in the index.